Outgoing Vice President Hamid Ansari, in a candid conversation with journalist Karan Thapar for Rajya Sabha TV on Wednesday, expressed his concerns about the political climate of the times, with an emphasis on the position of minorities in our country.
Against the backdrop of increasing incidents of intolerance, particularly the lynchings in the name of cow protection, Ansari commented on a growing sense of fear and insecurity among Muslims in India.
The 80-year-old Rajya Sabha chairman’s second five-year term as India’s vice-president will conclude on Thursday.
‘There’s a Sense of Insecurity Creeping in’
Speaking about the recent episodes of lynching, “ghar wapsi” amid others, Ansari said that these signaled a “breakdown of Indian values, breakdown of the ability of the authorities at different levels... to be able to enforce what should be normal law enforcing work and over all the very fact that Indianness of any citizen being questioned is a disturbing thought.”
Ansari agreed with the belief that the Muslim community had reason to be insecure, owing to the kind of comments being made against them. Ansari said:
Yes it is a correct assessment, from all I hear from different quarters, the country... I hear more about in north India, there is a feeling of unease, a sense of insecurity is creeping in.
‘Asserting Your Nationalism Everyday is Unnecessary’
When asked about the Supreme Court order making it mandatory to play the national anthem before every film screening, and the more recent Madras High Court ruling on the ‘Vande Mataram’, Ansari said:
The courts are a part of society. So what the courts tend to say sometimes is reflective of what the prevailing atmosphere in society is. I call that a sense of insecurity... this propensity to be able to assert your nationalism day in and day out is unnecessary.
Deeming it unnecessary to prove one’s nationalism constantly, Ansari added: “I am an Indian and that is it.”
Triple Talaq, a ‘Social Aberration’
Speaking out against triple talaq, Ansari called it a “social aberration” and said it is not a religious requirement. Clarifying his stance on triple talaq as a Muslim, Ansari said:
Firstly, it is a social aberration, it is not a religious requirement. The religious requirement is crystal clear, emphatic, there are no two views about it but patriarchy, social customs has all crept into it to create a situation which is highly undesirable.
Ansari went on to assert that reform must come from within the community and that the courts need to intervene.
‘Kashmir Issue is a Political One’
Talking about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Ansari, who happens to be a former diplomat, called the problem mainly a political one, and asserted its need to be “addressed politically”. Agreeing to a suggestion that politicians were dodging the issue, Ansari said:
That’s my impression. And I’m not the only one in the country... when young boys and girls come out on to the streets and throw stones day after day, week after week, month after month, it’s something to worry about because they are our children, they are our citizens.
On the India-China Impasse
When asked about the India-China standoff at Doklam, Ansari said:
I think we have had these periods of standoffs with China. And there is enough knowledge, enough experience, enough wisdom still available to be able to retrieve situations.
(With inputs from PTI)
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